Dark Knight Rises Major Spoilers and Speculation from Full Trailer

And here we go.

Feb. 9, 2012 It seems Nolan only distributed 5 copies of the full script and actor Gary Oldman was in possession of one. He apparently “lost his copy.” Yeah, right. I have a script, too, but it ends with Bruce Wayne adopting all of Gotham’s orphan sons and taking them away to his version of League of Shadows. Yes, it turns out a lot like Hook. Very awkward. Bangarang, Bane, bangarang!

Feb. 4, 2012 New insight into how Warner Bros.’ marketing team is subliminally going to make you Bat-fanatics doggy-drool for their product: pay atteenshun to the title card’s color scheme. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Batman is inherently a product of American jingoism. Batman Begins had a red title card (initially, before it became poop brown). The Dark Knight was blue. Sure enough, The Dark Knight Rises is white. For those who like to read into things and look for prophecies, well, Ian Malcolm says, “There it is.” For the unedumacated, red, white, and blue are the colors of the United States flag (sure, other countries have those sole colors, too, and they probably think Batman was created just for them too). Either or, those IMAX tickets are already sold out for day one. Bat-indoctrination, check. Bat-fanatic hype machine, check. Warner Bros. counting their loot, check. He told you to swear to him, and you did. Don’t know if that’s cool or scary.

Feb. 3, 2012

Anne Hathaway Playboy Nude Pics tie-in

Jan. 14, 2012 – True or not true. If Warner Bros. is going to cross-market Terminator Salvation, Bane’s going to have a damaged face where they take advantage of Two-Face visual effects again:

Jan. 2, 2012 – Nolan’s keen to James Bond villainry. He loves James Bond. Bond villains always got some kind of villain code that they follow. Mike Myers picked up on this and it’s perfectly satirized in the Austin Powers movies: the villain relies on the hero just as much as the hero relies on the villain, otherwise, the clash won’t exist, the conflict won’t drive the story. This got me thinking whether Bane imprisons Bruce Wayne so that he could retrain so they can fight again, y’know, because Bane is sick like that. It is just like Dragon Ball Z, I suppose. And, of course, while in prison, Talia’s helping Wayne along because he’s her “beloved” and that’s how Wayne ultimately defeats Bane.

Which leads me to wonder if Bane’s death will be as poetic as Nomak’s in Blade 2. If Bane’s theme is “pain”, then undoubtedly, a line like Nomak’s own line before his death, “Funny, it hurts no more,” would be quite poetic.

Does Bane break Wayne’s leg instead of his back? That would be more reasonable, I suppose. If Nolan’s trying to ground it in “reality”, Wayne cannot recover from paralysis, but he can walk again if he has a broken leg. Pay close attention to his clothes too. That’s not American-looking. Or is it Ras? Hmmmm. He looks like Jesus of Nazereth. Always with the resurrection motif, eh?

Right from Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns”, there has to be an obligatory ballroom scene between Bruce and Selina. They can’t be sock-hopping it down at the Gotham Dairy Queen because, well, that wouldn’t present them as “class” (pronounced closs) would it? If any of you aging Bat-geezers, like myself, recall that right when Bruce and Selina light the spark, Penguin crashes the party in a giant ducky. And since Nolan is a master recycler, it’s possible he’ll follow the same pattern. Bane crashes that ball.

Two government dudes talking smack about Gordon during Dent’s eulogy. Clearly they’re corrupt officials working for Bane. I also find it interesting that Modine bares a similar resemblance to Oldman except without the ‘stache. In the comic Year One, Gordon’s corrupt counterpart was actually Flass, but Nolan already used the character in Batman Begins. So having Modine play the corrupt counterpart of Oldman, especially with a foiling look, hints at that clash for the same position as police commissioner. Plus, they have character actor looks written all over them anyway.

As deduced by other Bat-ectives out there in the blogosphere, Selina seems to be wearing Martha Wayne’s necklace. She seems to be stealing from Bruce. The only way she can get that close was if she was already in Wayne’s circle. Does that mean the rumors of her being part of the help, essentially a replacement for the generic Rachel Dawes archetype, are true?

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Bane's goons rappeling into "pit"

In the teaser, I thought the hole would be smaller as we can see someone climbing out of it. I was thinking that was a young Bane.

Jackie Chan has a cameo. LOL. Could be Wayne or a young Ras. Can’t tell at this point.

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Bane vs Batman at City Hall

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Bats and Bane exchange punches

Rocky vs. Clubber Lang. Somehow, I get the feeling after Batman wins his war against terror, he’ll be waving the U.S. flag while barking “Democracy, Freedom, Libration for the People of Gotham!” Nolan’s just taking a play out the American propaganda playbook: toy with those emotions and sell tickets. Also, it’s possible this is the ending of the film, as that is how Walter Hill’s “Streets of Fire” ended. Or is it the beginning, when Batman gets defeated in front of all the cops? I know in the comic Batman: Hush, Batman gets his ass jacked and Huntress Selina comes swooping in on a bike to save him. Is that how it will play out? That would explain why the Gotham cops don’t fight back, eh?

Just like a Pavlovian test, the trailer is really good at setting a tone that Bane is a threat. So naturally, by the time it cuts to “honest, beat cop John Blake” you think that he’s running from Bane in fear. I think the actual context is that he’s just detonated a bomb is is fleeing. In Goyer fashion, Blake is the mole that betrays the protagonist, just like Scud betrayed Blade in Blade 2.

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Bane pumping up his vest made for him by Nike

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: A bunch of dudes rappelling down a huge hole in the ground

I had two speculations about this. Uno) Bane’s goons rush the “pit” to steal their quake bomb. Dos) Bane’s goons rush back to the “pit” to destroy it, because that’s where Bane was tortured and experimented on. BUT, it seems this pit leads straight into the M.C. Escher prison, so these cuts might be out of order. And is it a giant chimney? How big is THAT fire?

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Big trucks go boom

We can safely assume that the unmodified tumblers are hijacked by Bane’s goons. So why does the big truck, assuming it’s driven by Bane, drive through the tumbler?

Selina Kyle at a train station or airport. Does she just show up in Gotham? Is that how Nolan will establish some allegiance ambiguity: at first you think she’s one of Bane’s agents, but when she helps Batman it’ll leave viewers confuzzled?

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: A masked man rappelling down the side of a building

It’s Bruce Wayne. If he’s gotta wear a mask, that means he doesn’t have access to the batsuit. I’m assuming he’s visiting Gordon in the hospital after Gordon gets hurt. However, I still think there’s more to it than just “Batman can’t appear in the daytime”. There has to be some kind of urgency that Wayne doesn’t even change out of his expensive business suit that he has to see Gordon. He’s obviously sneaking into the building. Also, if Wayne is wearing a mask, it means Gordon doesn’t know his identity yet.

Hmm-mm-mm. Marion. Talia. Just let the terrorists win already. White knights will always fall for a pretty face. Let’s see what the Dark Knight does.

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Gotham City Rogues football game is sabotaged

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Tom Hardy lurking in the shadows of the stadium as Bane with a detonator

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Christian Bale (as Bruce Wayne) with what appears to be a high-impact wound to the forehead

I can’t pinpoint who Wayne is looking at in this particular shot, although the shot that follows it in the trailer is Bane giving his “permission to die” line, it’s still not fact. However, it does look like concrete in the background. Is it in the batcave? If not, when does Nolan break the bat? If it’s in the beginning of the film, why is Wayne’s temples graying already? Does the movie start out 8 years literally after Dark Knight, or will it jump 8 years later? Does Bane takeover Gotham right after Batman flees, after taking the blame for Joker’s murders? If that is the case, Wayne wouldn’t have been fighting crime for 8 years, which would explain why Bane defeats him so easily. Then Wayne leaves Gotham to investigate Bane and to retrain.

Wayne retrains with George Lucas at Skywalker Ranch. These particular shots emphasize Wayne’s graying temples, which shows the passage of time (or stress). The question now is what is this location? Is it a prison similar to the one in Batman Begins, or is it Bane’s headquarters, or Bane’s origin of torture? Wouldn’t it be cool if Wayne was posing as Ras Al Ghul to get his info?

In the comics Knightfall storyline, Bane breaks a bunch of the Arkham Asylum inmates loose so that Batman gets worn out chasing/recapturing them. Will it be the same plotline or is Bane just recruiting an army?

Will Anne Hathaway lick Christian Bale like Michelle Pfieffer did to Michael Keaton in this version? That was hot.

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Analysis: Hotel getting ransacked

Notice the plain-clothes civilians. That means this is not the same ball. Or is it? The bell-hop means this is a hotel. Context is given that it is a fancy hotel. It is possible that the ball is being held at this hotel. There’s also that shot of some dude in a tuxedo hiding underneath a drawer getting pulled out by Bane’s goons. Mayhaps they’re looking for rich dudes that fit the build of Batman.

Update Jan. 19, 2012: Seems with the recent “leaks” of the new toys coming out, this beast might not have copter blades after all. It might just be a hovercraft. So now I’m suspecting that it will be presented as a tumbler first, and there will be some kind of twist when it can fly.

Some bloggers were claiming that Bane was piloting the Bat-copter. Why? How contrived would that be in the storytelling? It’s Batman piloting it. I’m sure there will probably even be some cheesy send-off line right before, “If Bane controls the ground, you can take control of the sky”. Something like that and then cut to Batman lifting off and giving chase. ‘Course, this happens when Batman “rises”, and not before the climax. There’s also some speculation that copter blades will be CG’d in. It’s possible, because there were some earlier paparazzi shots of the camo tumblers in holes that looked like they were carved into the street by a giant cookie-cutter. Is it possible that the batcopter can cut into the street like that? Or does the batcopter just stamp down on the tumbler? Dang. Is that going to be an action sequence or what? Pay attention, boys and girls, this is how Warner Bros. sells you toys.

The building collapsing motif. An appropriate uplifting metaphor. Can Americans rise after the Sept. 11 attacks? Will this movie uplift Americans? But most importantly, will Warner Bros. make their money back? L to the O to the L.

In summary, what can I deduce from the full trailer? Last we know of Batman, he took the blame for Joker’s murders (including the death of Harvey Dent). So, he goes into hiding for 8 years. Just like the great white hype, he hasn’t been fighting crime in that time. When Bane shows up, he’s easily defeated, and quite possibly in front of the Gotham police. Psychologically speaking, that would make the cops fear Bane. Bane takes over Gotham and kicks Wayne out of town. Of course, Bane is the typical Bond villain. He wants to fight Batman when they are both at their peaks. So Bane waits patiently in Gotham until Wayne can recuperate and get his Dragon Ball Z level up to 9000 again. In that time, Wayne learns who Bane is and regains his strength. All that Selina Kyle, Talia Al Ghul, John Blake, Gordon stuff is fluff exposition. And I think Alfred dies. There’s also a Rocky-like montage. And then a Rocky-like climactic, epic fight. Batman doesn’t die. Gotham is saved. The End. Sound accurate?

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